We will also be displaying the KillaCycle at the Advanced Automotive Battery and Ultracapacitor Conference and Symposia in Tampa, Fl from May 12th through May 16th in the A123Systems booth.

See you there!

Bill D.

PS

We can’t afford one, but we really need a 5th wheel toy hauler (~30 ft) to go to these long distance events.
We will guarantee that it gets on national TV!

You are welcome to publish any of the photos on the web site in an article about the KillaCycle and/or about the KillaCycle sponsor’s products.

The 186 lbs of A123 Systems Nanophosphate cells were all warmed up and ready to deliver the 500 HP they were designed to. We had been having some trouble getting this insane amount of HP to link to the track, so we were trying out a new brand of tire (27″ x 10″ M&H Racemaster) Our bet paid off when the bike linked up hard to the cold track and posted our best ever 60 ft time (1.14).

The bleachers were quite full with folks that were waiting to see the KillaCycle make a pass. The bike sped by the stands, the only sound being the growl of the tire clawing for a grip on the cold track. I knew it was a fast run, but we all were completely blown away when the board lit up with 7.82 @ 168 mph.

The spectators didn’t clap or cheer, but, simultaneously, let out a revenant, hushed, low-pitched “whooooa” when the board lit up. They too were completely awed and nonplussed by the historic event that we all had just witnessed.

The stars aligned for us, but we could not have done this without the support and encouragement of the Jonah at A123 Systems, Jim Husted at Hi-Torque Electric, John at M&H tire, Bob at NSK Bearings, Rich at Manzanita Micro, Otmar at Cafe Electric, Steve and Derek at Denver CNC, and John Bruszenski.

We also want to sincerely thank the All Harley Drag Racing Association for their continued support and encouragement of our racing program.

Video by Susan Lefebire here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHtAkM3CYLA

timeslip picture here:
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s196/SueBriMegJake1/DSC00199photo.jpg

A few pictures and eye-witness write-up here:
http://futuredrive.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/on-the-scene-killacycle-breaks-its-own-world-record/

Fantastic pictures from the event at HotRodHotLineBIKES at:
http://www.hotrodhotlinebikes.com/builder/2007/07billdubekillacycle/

More information about it on the NEDRA web page!

At the SAME TIME the NBC Today Show will be airing a segment on the KillaCycle!

Here is the Today clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2WdcKNZW8w

(Here is the link if the video doesn’t load http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8eLH8x_-Y )
The episode of the Speed Channel is listed as either “Rapid Turnover; Speed Records”, or “Speed Records”.

Got it slowed down to about 20 mph. Front wheel is bent, as are front forks. Cowling is not nearly as pretty as it was.
Battery box took a hit from the front wheel. Almost certainly, some cells were shorted. No smoke. No fire. Ultra safe cells. Had these been anything but A123 Systems Nano-phosphate cells, shorts would have caused a serious fire.

No major damage. We will have it fixed in short order.

Important to note: Area in front of the bike was CLEARED of ALL PEOPLE. NO ONE was at risk but me. Concrete on both sides of area.

Yes, I am an idiot for not wearing a helmet. :-/

Here is a link to the teaser:

http://voom.tv/equatorhd/greenwheels/

Click the “Watch Video” tab in the middle of the page!

>>> More Batteries! < <<<
We put in another 110 of the most powerful Li-Ion cells in the world to make a total of 990 A123Systems M1 cells in the bike. This pushed the power output to over 350 HP. We are now able to draw 1575 amps from the 375 volt, 7.5 kW-hr battery pack. There are just 161 lbs of cells in this pack. We call the A123Systems battery pack “Mister Fusion” because it acts like a bottomless pit of power and energy on the track. We could make 7 or 8 runs without recharging if we wanted. It only takes a few minutes to recharge the pack between runs, so we top it off every time. With the latest PFC-50 charger from Manzanita Micro, we can recharge the bike in just 5 minutes! We only use about 700 w-hrs (about $0.10) of electricity for each round. This includes the burn-out and the more than 2 mile round trip back to the pits!

Without these powerful A123Systems batteries, we would have no hope of setting new world records.

>>> Series/Parallel Shifting< <<
Another change we made was to install a series/parallel contactor. The Zilla Controller has the ability to operate a serie/parallel motor contactor automatically. The motors are inititally configured in series. Thus, the full contoller output current travels through both motors. This gives maximum starting torque. As the motors spin up, the voltage across each of them increases. When that voltage matches the battery voltage, the current will decrease as motor rpm continues to increase. The Zilla will then switch the motors into parallel connection. This will double to voltage available to each motor, but will divide the current. The motors can turn much faster, but with half the torque. It result is just like shifting a transmission from low to high.

We could not get the contactor to shift automatically during the two runs we had on Friday test and tune session. The 60 ft times were fantastic, (1.169 seconds) but we were not getting the top-end performance we needed. We re-wired the launch button to be a manual shift button and this proved to work quite well for the rest of the weekend. We plan to upgrade the Zilla firmware and we believe this will solve the auto-shift problem.

These fantastic 60 ft times translate to a 0 to 60 mph time of 1.04 seconds.

>>> Pack Heaters < <<<

Another improvement we made was to build in Kapton heaters into the battery pack. We used these to bring the pack up to optimum temperature, (75 Celsius) and maintain it there for maximum power output. The A123Systems cells are unique in that you can bring them to very high temperatures without damage. (They age a bit more quickly at high temperature, but that is it.)

>>>> Next Event < <<<

We will be displaying the KillaCycle at the Wired Magazine NextFest on September 13th - 16th in Los Angeles

We’ll be running exhibition passes at the NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 25th - 28th

Here is a link to a video of one of the record-breaking runs at Firebird Raceway:

Here are some pictures from the event:

Here is a link to a fantastic article about the KillaCycle in Designfax On-line
http://www.manufacturingcenter.com/dfx/news/archive/04-24-2007/stories/feature-5.asp

The Harley crowd went wild every time the KillaCycle came up to the line. They all cheered as the time when up on the scoreboard, dropping in leaps as the weekend event progressed. The last run on Sunday night was the quickest of them all at 8.168 @155.78MPH. This completely wiped out the long-standing top EV (dragster) record of 8.801 held by Dennis Berube for more than 6 years.

We all know it is quite a feat for a bike to take out a record set by a dragster, especially by such a large margin. This typically does not happen in drag racing, but we have the A123Systems Li-Ion batteries that make all the difference. They are more powerful than any other Li-Ion batteries produced. They hold so much energy, we could make 6 or 7 runs without recharging! It only takes about 10 minutes for us to recharge them in the pits, so we top them off for between every run. In electric drag racing, everyone knows “It’s all about the batteries.”

With the latest PFC-50 charger from Manzanita Micro, we can charge the bike in less than 5 minutes!

We made several changes that really boosted the performance for this event. We built a new battery pack with 990 A123Systems M1 Li-Ion cells (110 more than before.) We also implemented a contactor system that allows the bike to shift the motors from series connection on the launch, to parallel connection further down the track. This allows us to push 2000 amps through BOTH motors on the starting line to get something close to a total of 800 ft-lbs of torque. This results in about 2000 ft-lbs of torque on the back tire.

During test and tune on Friday, we couldn’t get the bike to autoshift the two drive motors from series to parallel configuration. (This electrical “shift” shift feels a lot like a two-speed transmission.) The bike was launching great (1.169 60ft) but was not pulling on the second half of the track. We rigged up a manual shift button that worked great for the weekend event. (We’ll upgrade the firmware in the motor controller to fix this bug for the next race.)

We are always making improvements, so it should not be too long before we get the KillaCycle down into the 7’s if our luck holds out. Our next planned event is the “Wayland Invitational EV Drag Race” at Portland, OR on July 13th and 14th.

>>> A few facts about the KillaCycle < <<<

A total of 990 A123Systems high-power M1 Li-Ion cells
1575 amps @75 Celsius
374 volts
300 kW peak, (~400 HP)
162 lbs of A123Systems M1 cells
~180 lbs total battery pack weight, with interconnects and battery management system electronics

Total bike weight (without rider) 619 lbs

Best ET = 8.168
Best Speed = 156.77 MPH

KillaCycle Team:
Scotty Pollacheck, Rider, Tires, Suspension set-up
Steve Ciciora, Electronic battery management system design, construction
Derek Barger, CNC and Electronics fabrication
Jonah Myerberg, Battery expert
Scot Colburn, BMS design, construction
Susan Lefebire, Videographer
Bill Dube’, Owner, Crew chief

When you think about it, the KillaCycle is just a giant cordless drill with wheels.

Click on pictures for larger image. Click on larger image for high-resolution image

There is an excellent, well-researched article in Designfax here:
http://www.manufacturingcenter.com/dfx/news/stories/feature-5.asp